


Day of the Family

by fawatson



Category: The Big Valley
Genre: Gen, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 14:35:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13078932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fawatson/pseuds/fawatson
Summary: Heath realises he really is a Barkley.





	Day of the Family

**Author's Note:**

  * For [donutsweeper](https://archiveofourown.org/users/donutsweeper/gifts).



> **Request:** Canon never told us exactly why or when Heath started calling Victoria "Mother." A story that focused on that would be wonderful, but I truly love their relationship in the show and any story about the relationship between these two would be absolutely fantastic. Gen please.
> 
> Ah, my perennial request. It's a foolish hope to keep asking for this, I suppose, but if I don't ask I definitely won't get it so what can it hurt, right? In all seriousness, I love Big Valley, especially the first season. For such an old show it has, in general, held up very well. I was always amazed how gracious Victoria was with Heath; she truly came to consider him one of her sons (as is completely obvious by the end of the first season and the episode "By Force or Violence"). I'd love to see any story about these two but in particular something that focused on their relationship as mother and son. What made her open her heart up to him in that way? Why did he go from calling her Ma'am (as we see in "Boots With My Father's Name" and others) to Mother (as we see later in the first season like in "The Guilt Of Matt Burnell" or "The Invaders")? Also, something I've always wondered about Heath in relation to taking the Barkley name and finding his place with them was how (or if) his new family and new mother affected his feelings towards his biological mother and the women who raised him.
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** I do not own these characters and make no profit by them. 
> 
> **Author’s Notes:** This story takes place after “Night of the Wolf” and before “The Guilt of Matt Burnell”.

One of the hands had come for Heath in the middle of the night because the roan mare was foaling. She was Nick’s favourite and he had high hopes for her offspring. Had he been here, Nick would have been with her. But he was back East taking young Tommy to Julia’s family, so the least Heath could do was see to Nick’s favourite breeder. Besides, he was better at foaling than Nick was. It took patience to sit with a mare and sooth her fears and encourage her at just the right time. It hadn’t taken Heath long after he came to this ranch to realise that Nick might be long on ambitious plans but he was short on patience. Heath had missed breakfast by the time the little filly stood wobbly on her hooves beside her Mama, head-butting the old mare’s side as she tried to find her way to the teat for her first feed, her Mama’s long nose reaching back to sniff at her new daughter and nudge the foal in the right direction. Heath smiled. He never tired of seeing the first steps of the new born; calf or horse or sheep made no difference (not that this ranch raised sheep). There was no substitute for Mama-love. 

He came out of the box stall to find Victoria standing and watching him, slight smile of her face. 

“Since you weren’t at breakfast we made a decision in your absence,” she began. 

“Oh?” 

Not for the first time, he thought. It was not something he had anticipated when he first came to the Barkley ranch. They _all_ made decisions, lots of them, and not always the same ones, which often led to a certain amount of…noise…when they realised someone _else_ in the family had decided something they didn’t agree with. Yet somehow, it wasn’t always the one who shouted loudest who won those arguments, and always they stayed together. Let an outsider challenge, and those disagreements miraculously disappeared like a puff of smoke in the wind. 

“The Station Master sent a boy to deliver a telegram first thing this morning. Nick will be home on the 4 o’clock train today.” 

“Good,” said Heath, “he’s been away from the ranch long enough.” Too long really, Heath thought privately, first because of that wolf-bite and then going East. Heath had done his best to keep the ranch going in his absence, but there was no doubting the importance of Nick’s drive and direction when it came to pushing the ranch forward as an ever-more-lucrative concern. 

“Yes, and Audra’s driving into town for a dress fitting, so she’s going to meet him when his train gets in and drive Nick back; and since Jarrod has a visit planned with old Mr Saunders about his will, we decided you are to help get ready at the ranch.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” said Heath. It wasn’t quite the division of labour he had expected but it made sense. He knew the ranch was running pretty smoothly; but undoubtedly there would be something Victoria had noticed needed to be sorted before Nick took up the reins again. She might not do a lot on the ranch nowadays, but there was no doubt in anyone’s mind she knew all about ranching, having worked alongside her husband when they first came to Stockton and were just getting started. 

In the kitchen, Silas chattered about ‘Mr Nick’ (as he called him) coming home while Heath ate ham and eggs. There was no doubt this family had a knack for generating loyalty amongst the hands and the house staff. Remembering what it had been like living in the hornet’s nest atmosphere of his aunt and uncle’s house after his mother died, Heath certainly appreciated the warmth and trust the Barkleys imbued this house with. He scraped the rind off his plate before Silas noticed and took it away with a reproachful look. “That’s _my_ job, Mr Heath”. Heath nodded and went to find Victoria. 

He expected to see her in Nick’s study where he kept the ranch’s records; she would have found something there that he had overlooked. She would, as was her way, be tactful about his oversight. But she wanted everything to be just right for Nick’s arrival and he understood that. However, the study was empty, and instead he found Victoria in the drawing room surrounded by swathes of gauzy white-sprigged cotton. 

“I wanted your opinion on this fabric,” she said. “I’ve been thinking of it for the windows in Nick’s room. His curtains are so old, they are falling to bits; and they are so thick they block out almost all the light. It’s time to replace them. I was thinking some ruching along the top would give it a nice soft effect. And I could make him new pillow slips with lovely ruffles for his bed. What do you think?” 

Heath blinked at the image of Nick’s somewhat aggressive masculinity surrounded by white ruffles. “Surely Audra would be a better person to ask,” he ventured.

“Oh, Audra,” Victoria pronounced dismissively, “I already asked her and she just said she wanted yellow for her own room. I wasn’t asking her about _her_ room.” 

“Well, how about asking Jarrod then.”

“I already did and he reminded me of the time when they went away to boarding school, and came back for the holidays to find their room redecorated, and Nick didn’t even notice. I want Nick to _notice_ this time.”

“This time!” Heath was startled. “You’re not thinking of redecorating his room before he arrives today?” 

It was a hair-brained scheme worthy of flighty young Audra, not Victoria-the-family-matriarch. Besides, even if it could be done, the thought of Nick’s reaction if he found his room done out in girly frills…he’d bellow louder than a calf at branding time. No need to say all that now though. Nick would be home soon enough; let _him_ veto this plan. 

Right now Heath settled for a laconic, “there isn’t time to do all that before this afternoon.”

“Not even if you help?” asked Victoria. There was a brief pause before she added, “Oh well, if you don’t think it will do. I also had another idea for something we should do before Nick gets back–” 

She broke off as Silas interrupted from the door. “Mrs Barkley? There’s a man at the door asking for Mr Nick.”

“Well, did you tell him Nick’s away right now?”

“Yes, Ma’am, and he asked for Mr Jarrod, and I told him the same thing; but then he asked for you.” Silas looked somewhat agitated. “He’s quite a rough-looking man, Mrs Barkley, and he looked somehow…kind of….”

“How did he look Silas?” asked Heath, all his instincts alert. 

“Pleased to learn the men-folks was away, Mr Heath.” 

“Where did you leave him, Silas,” asked Victoria quietly. 

“On the porch, Ma’am.” 

Heath and Victoria shared a speaking glance. No one was left on the porch waiting at the Barkley ranch; its hospitality was a byword in Stockton. Silas might not be able to explain what had raised his suspicions, but something must have. 

“Why don’t I just wait out of sight while you see what he wants,” suggested Heath. “And…” he went to a case on the mantel, took out the small pistol on display there, and loaded it with ammunition from a box in the credenza. “Keep this out of sight,” he said, as he handed her the loaded weapon. 

Victoria nodded. “Show the man in Silas.” 

The man was clearly a drifter, dressed in worn clothes, with trail dirt under his fingernails. With the exception that their clothes would be new, Victoria thought Nick and Heath would look very much the same coming off a cattle drive. Except for the eyes; there was something predatory about this man’s eyes. His ‘Howdy, Ma’am’ was a polite enough start to what he had to say; but Victoria listened in growing horror as he continued. He was a member of the notorious Hancock gang and they had kidnapped Audra on her journey into town and were holding her for ransom. 

“Since most of your men are out on the range taking the cattle to the waterhole so they don’t die of this heat, Ma’am; and you only have a couple of old-timers the worse for wear still here at home - plus your own men-folks is away on business - it would be best not to try anything…foolish. It’s Friday, Ma’am. We know you got the payroll waiting for the men when they get back tomorrow. So Ma’am, you just be handing that over to me, and we’ll hand over your daughter to you.” 

He didn’t notice Heath creeping up quietly behind him. There was a brief scuffle, horrifyingly even, before Victoria upended a house-plant on the floor and used its empty brass pot to hit the outlaw on the head. Heath followed it up with a punch on the nose and he dropped like a stone. 

“Not that I don’t agree with knocking him out, you understand,” said Victoria to Heath once they had the man firmly tied up, “but it leaves him in no fit state to answer questions about where the gang is keeping Audra.” 

“Don’t need him to,” explained Heath. “Look at those burrs on his clothes. There’s only one place in this valley where he could have picked up those.” 

“The abandoned homestead; they must have taken her there.”

“And because they’re not from this ranch, they’re not likely to know the back way in, which means I can get her out before they’re any the wiser, provided I leave now.” 

“No, Heath, it’s too dangerous that way,” protested Victoria. “What if they have someone in the room with her. You can’t go alone.” 

Heath thought a second, before he acknowledged, “Guess not, but they were right about one thing. We are light on hands working close-by today. And Jed and Warren may be honest as the day is long; but they are not the men to go hunting outlaws.” Jed was one of the first hands the Barkleys had hired when they started the ranch; he had been no spring chicken then and now he was toothless old; but he refused to retire, so he was kept on as a trail cook on the chuck wagon when they drove the cattle to market at the end of the season and in the meantime did odd jobs around the house. Warren had been told not to ride for a couple of weeks after he’d twisted his right knee and cracked his collarbone in a fall off a half-broke horse. 

“What we need is a diversion,” said Victoria, “and I have an idea.”

An hour later Heath rode out, clad in the outlaw’s clothes. He could wish the man washed a bit more. As he got within sight of the old homestead his horse started to act up. From the house it would look as if he was shying at something. Then his horse began to limp, as if it had gone lame. Heath had spent the winter before he’d joined the Barkleys teaching his horse tricks; now they came in handy. Heath dismounted and made a show of checking his horse’s hooves, then turned a full circle and rubbed the back of his neck as if frustrated and pondering what to do. Then he began walking, leading the horse’s halting footsteps slowly toward the cabin ahead. He knew every eye at that old homestead would be watching him, not the hidden back entrance into the house. 

Victoria had ridden ahead, with a second horse in tow for Audra, plus two rifles and ammunition. She left the horses tied to a thicket near the house, using the bushes to hide them. Then she slipped into the long-abandoned smoke house where she lifted a trapdoor to reveal some rough-hewn steps that led downwards into a tunnel. The Richards family who built this homestead had been the first to arrive in the valley, long before the Barkleys, when it was still Indian country. They had built a short tunnel leading from the bedroom of the main house to this outbuilding, to use as an escape in case of Indian raid. The Barkleys knew all about it because they had bought their original farm from the Richards many years ago, when Tom and Victoria came to the valley as newlyweds. They had used this house for the first two years of their marriage, before one of their investments had made good and they’d built the big house to replace the old farmhouse. Victoria now used the long-disused tunnel to reach her daughter. 

She listened carefully behind the door into the bedroom, hoping Heath’s decoy was distracting the outlaws the way they’d planned. She could hear rustling noises behind the wall, which did not bode well. But there wasn’t a lot of time to wait. Heath’s play-acting could only last so long. She opened the door a crack and looked through; Audra’s startled face was looking back. She had freed herself from her ties and crouched down by the wall, trying to find the release for the hidden entrance. Victoria put a finger to her mouth to stop the words she could see bubbling up in Audra, and motioned her to follow. 

“How many of them are there,” Victoria asked Audra urgently when they had reached the horses.

“Just four that I saw, altogether” replied Audra. “They all went outside when the one who went for the ransom was sighted.”

“That makes three then,” Victoria said, “given that ‘outlaw’ over there performing on the road is really Heath in disguise. Here–” she handed a rifle to Audra who automatically checked and loaded it. 

“We can take them by surprise if you circle round that way,” she pointed, “and I go to the left where that tree is.” 

Heath’s first warning Audra was free came when she opened fire. He dove for the nearest shrubbery, pulled his gun from its holster and opened fire in time to shoot the last outlaw in the leg as he ran for his horse. The other two already lay moaning on the ground. 

“Pretty straight shooting,” he commented. 

“Any man who holds a gun to one of my family better understand I’m not playing around when I open fire,” retorted Victoria. 

Heath looked over to Audra – silly, sweet, flirtatious Audra – who had an equally determined look on her face. Better not say anything; far better to just catch the horses.

Back at the ranch, Audra disappeared upstairs to have a bath before setting out again for Stockton. 

As they relaxed over a glass of whiskey, Victoria turned to Heath, now comfortably back in his own clothes. “Heath, I want you to promise me one thing.”

“What’s that?” 

“ _Never_ are you to call me ‘Ma’am’ again.” 

“Why?”

“That horrible man, Ma’am’ing me right, left and centre, all the while threatening my daughter! I never want to hear that word again!” 

Heath smiled. 

“Besides,” Victoria continued, “Now you _know_ you are family. _I_ knew it when Nick went off alone after you were out on the range together. It was so obvious he was telling lies about where he was going; you clearly had a pretty good idea where he was really off to. You also knew why. But you never said anything.”

“It wasn’t my place to say,” explained Heath.

She nodded. “I know Jarrod will have asked you; but you still didn’t say anything.”

“Nick had asked me not to.” 

“Of course he did. But if you still saw us as just your employers, you’d have broken your promise to Nick because your boss was asking, and for all he leaves the day to day running of the ranch to Nick, Jarrod is still senior.”

Heath shrugged, then nodded. “I guess.”

“But you didn’t – you kept faith with Nick because much as you like and respect Jarrod, you’re closer to Nick. He’s more your brother in your heart than Jarrod is.”

Heath opened his mouth about to protest, but Victoria cut him off. 

“Oh, I’m not saying you don’t care for Jarrod; I’m just saying you have more in common with Nick. You understand him better and that makes you feel closer to him.”

Slowly, Heath nodded his head, acknowledging the truth of this. 

“And today you didn’t hesitate. You didn’t stop to think you were putting yourself in danger—and _you_ , not the sheriff whose job it is, which is what one of the hired hands would have done. One of them would just have high-tailed it for Stockton and the law. You straight away saddled up and went to rescue Audra.” 

Heath nodded. 

“Don’t you see: that’s what makes you _family_ , Heath.” Victoria was insistent. “ _All _my children care for one another, and would defend each other right or wrong, just the way you did today. Don’t you think it’s time you stopped calling me ‘Ma’am’ all the time and called me something else?”__

__

__

“What were you thinking of?” Heath asked. 

“Well the rest of my sons call me Mother; I don’t see why you shouldn’t do the same.” 

Heath went very quiet – too quiet; and for a moment Victoria thought she might have offended him. She didn’t want to disrespect his memories of his own mother Leah. Finally, Heath spoke. 

“I’d be honoured,” he said. “When I was little, I had a wonderful Mama who loved me and made me a family that kept me safe. But she died. It isn’t given to most men to be lucky enough to have two mothers and two families in one lifetime.” 

Victoria smiled in relief. “That’s settled then.” 

“Just one thing, Mother,” Heath asked, “what was it you were wanting me to do to get ready for Nick’s arrival, back before that outlaw interrupted us?” 

Victoria’s eyes opened wide in shock. “Oh, good heavens! I completely forgot.” 

“Forgot what?” 

“Come with me – I hope we’re not too late!” 

Heath followed, mystified, as Victoria led the way to the foaling barn, where two hands had just finished painting the front wall pink and were staring to paint the west wall to match. 

“What in tarnation…?” 

“I was trying to lead up to have that conversation we just had,” Victoria admitted. “It’s not just that horrible man calling me ‘Ma’am’ earlier when he didn’t mean it. I may not have given birth to you, but you’re the son of the man I loved more than I can say, Heath; and you’ve won your own place in my heart. I just couldn’t stand sitting at the dinner table any longer with everyone else calling me Mother and you calling me ‘Ma’am’.” 

“What does that have to do with pink walls, or…” he now realised what else must have been part of the same cockeyed plan Victoria would have dreamed up, “frilly curtains?”

“I thought if I got you riled enough to argue with me, you’d realise you weren’t acting like a hired hand, but like one of my children and….” Her voice died away as he started laughing. “It isn’t funny!" 

“It is from where I stand,” he said, managing – just – to control his laughter, but with his mouth twitching nonetheless. “All right, but I only have one thing to say: _you_ get to explain to Nick why he now has a pink barn!” 


End file.
